InStyle Magazine Article On Hair Loss Industry
Follicle Thought was recently featured in a publication for InStyle Magazine. The article, which is titled Men’s Hair Loss is a Multi-Billion Dollar Industry (and Growing), focuses on current trends in the hair loss industry and the stigma behind losing one’s hair. New direct-to-consumer companies such as Hims and Keeps are featured in the write-up, as well as other hair industry figures including FollicleThought.com. To put in a simple disclaimer, there is no groundbreaking treatment news shared in the article, however it’s certainly a great accomplishment for this site and I wanted to share it with you all here.
Several weeks ago, Danielle Friedman, the journalist who wrote the piece for InStyle, reached out and asked if I could put her in touch with members of my audience who would be willing to share about their own experiences with hair loss. She was also very interested in answering the question: why does the hair loss “stigma” still exist? This is a difficult question to answer, but I think perhaps, even if the stigma of hair loss goes away someday, people with hair loss will not be satisfied until they have a choice in the matter. The InStyle article begins with the personal story of “Anthony” a frequent commenter on Follicle Thought who uses an alias in his submissions. Many will be able to relate to Anthony’s story.
For the record, InStyle did ask me which treatments were on the horizon that offered a potential for cure baldness and I mentioned some of the names we are familiar with (companies working on multiplied follicles, etc.), however, that content did not make it into the final cut of the article. It would have been nice to give these companies more coverage in the mainstream media, but at least the audience of InStlye now has the opportunity to learn more about such treatments on Follicle Thought. Many thanks to InStyle for the feature. Please check out the article in the link below.
Article: Men’s Hair Loss is a Multi-Billion Dollar Industry (and Growing)
Posted in Hair Growth Treatment
Good job on being featured in InStyle magazine Admin! They are a big publication and being in it adds even more credibility to FT. Not that it is not a credible site for fact based information, but there are so many different sites, this helps FT stand out.
Thanks Lisa I appreciate it.
While here, does anyone else want to share thoughts on the stigma or anything else related to the article?
As far as the baldness stigma goes I think it’s completely natural for people to have an aversion to baldness. I have been completely bald since shaving my head in 1998 after beginning to lose my hair at age 18 a few years previously. I still get a shock when I see myself in photos or in the mirror because even after all these years it’s impossible to accept the condition as “natural” no matter how hard our PC society wants me to. And the crazy thing is I have friends that I see every few years that’ll say to me, “Whoa! When did you start shaving your head?” and the ironic thing is THEY HAVE ONLY EVER KNOWN ME WITH A BALD HEAD! That’s how ingrained it is within us that baldness should not be a natural part of our physical bodies. I actually wear wigs here in there as part of my job and just the other week a bunch of my friends who were on set with me for a two week job saw me without the wig on the last day and they all just stared at me with shock on their faces. They were so used to seeing me with hair for those two weeks that it seemed weird to them that I was actually bald even though some of those people have known me for 20 years as a baldie. Modern society wants us to accept all kinds of physical and mental dysfunctions as being normal but these ideas are anti-nature in my opinion and just don’t hold up when you look at the natural world in general. Survival of the fittest is why nature thrives but we as humans have become so disconnected from the underlying biological truth of the natural world (which we are a part of) that it’s been detrimental to our overall physical and mental health. In my opinion there is no reason for a man, woman or child to be bald or balding as it does not make any practical sense for the optimal functioning of the physical body. Hair loss should only be seen at the end of ones life as the body begins to break down as a whole. When you see a cat or dog with mange (patches of hair missing) you don’t think, “Oh that looks fine, that seems natural” – we know INSTINCTIVELY that something is not quite right and the same goes for human baldness. I believe it’s built into our DNA the blueprint for a perfectly functioning human body which is why we have these negative reactions to physical and mental disorders. Should we accept each individual person for who they are even if they have disorders? Of course. Should we accept their dysfunctional bodies and minds as being natural and normal? Impossible as it goes against the underlying DNA blueprint. This is why we have a website like this along with thousands of others dedicated to getting to the bottom of all kinds of physical and mental conditions – because deep down we know these things aren’t normal. But why is there hair loss in the first place? I think we’ve already discovered the answer but it’s a very fringe idea and hasn’t gotten any major traction yet so we’ll just have to wait. It seems like there is massive interest in this whole subject though so it’ll be interesting to see how things progress. And that’s the end of my long-winded 2 cents! Great site 🙂
First off dude, awesome paragraph. I agree with you on many points and send best wishes. I wonder if you enjoy the time wearing a wig or think of going wiht a a hair system sometimes?
But the bit at the end, what do you mean it’s a fringe idea and hasn’t gotten major traction yet? Which idea u mean?
Yes, would be interested in hearing back from Macattack
I’d be interested in hearing from the members of the community who spoke to the reporter and what they shared etc. what it was like for them.
Good article! I’m glad Follicle Thought was included.
As far as “stigma” for hair loss goes its kind of a chicken and the egg case. Do we feel so bad because people make fun of hair loss or is it because we feel bad about it ourselves? Probably a little of both. What if society for some reason thought highly of balding, do you think people would learn to like it themslves or feel more comfortable? An interesting question.
What do you guys think?
congrats on another media feature for you site, well done.
I think the best we can hope for is people don’t criticize balding so much…it will likely never be endorsed. People could relax more if criticism ceased.
I think a full head of hair is associated with youth and being healthy, so like Macattack mentioned, people tend to think there is something wrong with you or you are old and most people don’t want to be thought of as either.
It takes an emotional toll on a person, because it feels like lost of control of your own body. You see others with full heads of hair who don’t even put much effort in their hair or take it for granted, yet they have been rewarded with a great head of hair! And you put so much effort into it, yet nothing works. Your body does not cooperate.
It dominates a lot of your thoughts in terms of feeling self conscious if you have to speak in front of an audience or stand beneath a light shining onto your head, so you tend to shy away from being in the public eye as you are less confident. And the last thing is when it starts, you worry about what it will look like next year. I’ve always had less hair than most, but it didn’t worry me until recently when I noticed it has thinned out. None of my friends notice as I can style it so it is less noticeable, however I fear what it will look like in a couple of years. I def think although it is not a medical issue, it can become a psychological/mental health issue.
I also think the stigma is even worse for a woman, as it is not as common.
Great article about hair loss. I just shaved my head a few days ago due to lack of it. I understand that there are different reasons why hair comes out, but my reason is that when I was younger I pulled my hair out. My hair doctor here in Georgia told me that it was called trichotillomania. I have my own YouTube channel called Dontrel Dontrel please subscribe and give any information if you can. My eyelashes are done for as well. I do okay at hiding it, but it kills me so bad. And follicles from the back of my head are super thin so a hair transplant from the back of the head is not going to work. Please help anyone. Dontrel Dontrel please subscribe to my YouTube channel and hopefully we can share information.
Dontrel, keep an eye for new medicines coming that could multiply your follicle cells and maybe restore your hair on back of head from getting thin. Maybe even grow new follicles one day!
Congrats Admin!
Thanks Antonio!